Jae B.

This was an awful experience for me, but it did underscore how much I want to do this- because I've already rolled up my sleeves and gotten to work on the next application season, and if I didn't really want this, no way would I put myself through what I am going to have to go through to achieve this goal (another GRE, subject test GRE, ouuuuuuuuuch...).

I applied this past season to five schools, was rejected at four, and given a spot with no funding at the fifth. No way could I swing that - and I'm not going to, either. I have a decade of teaching experience, publications, and conferences, and I paid for my MA out of pocket. I fully expect to be funded as a doctoral candidate. Furthermore, as a mother and wife, no way can I possibly bankrupt my family going after my dream (we're close enough already without that).

What have I learned? Welllll.......

I learned that there are programs out there that will look at your undergraduate GPA from fifteen years ago as the deciding factor, even if you have a 4.0 from an MA program last year.

I learned that there are programs that claim they don't look at the quantitative score on your GRE if you're applying for English, but that they ultimately do.

I learned that programs that outwardly claim not to require the subject GRE "secretly" expect you to have taken it anyhow.

I learned that your LORs had better all come from professors - no colleague/peer-reviews of your teaching!

In short - I learned that just being a deserving candidate and a passionate one doesn't cut it - they claim to be looking for the best candidates, but they are actually really looking at the best application packets - and these can be two different things, especially if you don't really know how to assemble a "perfect packet", as it were. So - I learned that what you really have to do is to be smart about the process. This forum has been an invaluable tool in figuring out what I did wrong...hopefully, all that I have learned from this go-round will help me get in with funding next season!

I don't think it's a good idea. It adds an errand to a likely already pretty packed schedule & it is one of those requests that is hard for anyone to say "no" to, even though they may not want to do it. So, you run a risk of being given a "yes" answer, but then also being resented for the annoyance factor if the prof secretly wishes you'd never asked.

No offense but if the requirements for the program were clearly stated then you have no cause for protest. Yes the requirements may be very high but it's not their fault if you don't meet them. The only way it would be unfair is if they never stated what the standardized testing requirements were for their program, and my guess is that they are likely listed somewhere.

Hi everyone!
After waiting out for almost 4 months, my situation is this one: I have been rejected to a Master in Public Policy in NYU, American, Georgetown, GWU, Northeastern University, University of Chicago. And I'm still waiting for the last school Loyola University in Chicago.

So I would like to apply to 2 more schools by mid of May. Which school with a good MPP program will you recommend me? I will be happy if is between top 20 in the country. I’m more interested in Public Policy Analysis.

Thank you in advance, I really need advice.

More info about me:

This is my overall profile:

GPA 2.91 (The bachelor degree is 5 years long here) (Last 2 years 3.4)
Got minimum require TOEFL score for all schools.
GRE: 1000 in total (I know, my verbal is low ).
My letters of recommendations and PS are very strong.
I've been doing voluntary work for 4 year and been travelling a lot because of that, was having lots of responsability and its related to my field. I've been working since I'm 18.
I'm working very hard in my Personal Statement. (not finish yet).

Are you trying for this coming fall? Most schools have firm deadlines in December or January. A couple of schools might have rolling deadlines, but I'm not sure of which ones.

From your list of schools you did apply to, your ambitions are high. Would you be satisfied with any school at this point, or would you rather try again for your dream schools? Perhaps it is worth taking a year off and gaining experience as well as improving those GRE scores.

I've run myself out of one-up votes two days in a row just by reading this thread. Even when the advice got a bit inimical, it was still usually very perceptive and thoughtful. And here's to an OP who dealt with it all calmly and tactfully! Is it any wonder that this is a great community?

hmm, there's another thread on this somewhere...

In any case, maybe it's my liberal arts education, but I find that professors are generally a bit keener than this.

As far as "the larger academic world"... Yes, there are some complainers, but women's/gender/sexuality/queer theory, methodology, and studies have been established as real disciplines and also as important areas of studies within many other disciplines (eg, geography, where I'm at). Certainly much work remains to be done...

This is exactly what I think of graduate school for.




I am getting an advanced degree in journalism, a professional field, but even I don't expect this to get me a job. Far from it. A portion of journalism employers actually look down on the "poor saps" who get "suckered" into paying to get what experience gives. They think it's an absolute waste of time.

Therefore, if I just wanted a job, I would start looking for one today. Sure, it's different in other fields, where you need a certain degree to get your foot in the door, but there's still no guarantees.

You might end up working outside of your field. Outside forces might cause this, or your studies, interests and opportunities might lead you in a new direction. A number of journalism devotees I've spoken with anticipate this, and feel their personal development and skill acquisition in grad school will help them secure a job in another field, until they find their opportunity in journalism. It might be awhile.

A lot of the people I've talked to in my field expect to freelance after they graduate -- not to nail down full-time employment under contract with benefits.

I am going to graduate school for personal development reasons, and to have time to reflect on my field before becoming totally immersed in it and working a specific medium of it -- and perhaps losing the ability to see outside perspectives. I enjoy the academic environment, and am glad it will be part of my life for two more years. I hope it opens up my opportunities a bit (journalism, new media, web development, community work, teaching, etc.), but I don't expect it to pare them down for me.

To me, education is about critical thinking and acquiring knowledge and skills to enhance that ability. Grad school, in my mind, is about applying critical thinking, knowledge and skills to a specific topic or trade and its circumstances. Finding paths to explore and methods to explore them. Becoming really good at something, not necessarily finding a really good job in it. (Yes, there's some expectation management there!) In this sense, graduate school may even be counter to -- or highly inconvenient relative to -- realistic employment goals. You may learn things that are highly inconvenient for your work flows, career routines and just getting along with people at meetings. You might develop such specific interests it becomes difficult for you to find paid work that expresses them. You might have to settle for something else.

Working as an intern has helped me put work responsibilities in check with my idealism. I expect grad school assignments will do the same -- I hope they help me find a balance between the two. In my field, a lot of discussion circles ethics and legal debates.

For me, grad school is an opportunity to do work in a field I love and still be outside of it. I'll get to work in underserved communities and areas, where I wouldn't be able to find an actual reporting job. I hope I'll get to try new things, be on the cutting edge, but also learn traditional things that are falling by the wayside. In the process, I'll gain skills that will make myself more valuable as an employee -- something I'll still have yet to demonstrate, and hope my work in school will suggest to employers -- but much of what I do will be about becoming the journalist I want to become, not just getting a job.

Hi All,

I was playing around with a new browser and noticed that the site load speed was terrible. This was most noticeable if you were browsing the site when not logged in, I have just fixed this, so things should be a bit faster especially for guests! Sorry about that :-)

Wow! Going to date myself but when I was a freshman in college only the rich kid's dads had the cell phone and it was the size of a brick and only could make PHONE CALLS. TXTing? LOL. Back then we passed notes. And no iPods either. Just one of these:

Try listening to one of those in class

Plus there were fewer of us as HS Grads still had some viable non-college career options and werent pressured into a 4-yr institution they werent a good fit for. Geez, I sound pretty fuNking old and pathetic now.

There were only 11 of us at the interview so I imagine the yield will be closer to 3 than 8. It is a small department. I liked that though. I feel as if I won't have to fight for money, time, attention and resources.

But the suspense is killing me!

Also, it seems like one of my cohort must be on Grad Cafe. Not two hours after I made this post one of us sent that email someone suggested further up the thread. Now I'm just waiting to see who responds.

So exciting.

I think it depends on your industry. I spoke with the Outreach Supervisor at a company I dream to work for after graduate school (just hinting at the company with bold). We talked about various things such as the school I will be attending, jobs I could do if I didn't attend, internships, and the jobs I eventually want to settle into. Anyways, he said that 4 out of 5 people in the job I'd like have graduate degrees (MS & PhD) and that I also would make more money with a graduate degree in my industry. I know what I want to do as a career and now all I have to do is make sure my coursework, projects, and research are all geared towards that goal.

Thank you, bgk!
I was supposed to be preparing my students' finals, writing my Intro to Linguistic Anthropology paper and reviewing one of the students' senior thesis. Well, I still have Sunday to do all that!

Might I suggest that you not use phrases like "homosexual agenda" on this forum if you really are seeking out advice from others. It won't end well. Thanks.

Hey, dear Americans overhead, I presume majority of posters overhead are local American. I really cannot understand why you are afraid of Christian or Catholic. You should be really pround of your religion/belief. Why USA is the most powerful country and most democratic country? At least I think it is as I am an alien from communist country. Because your ancesters are puritans! They are really brave warriors with big aspirations coming to this god blessed land.

Please cherish your belief, as I think, if one day america's christian atmosphere degenarated to a cutting point, America will not be the new century "Rome". I don't want to see that. Would you want to see that?

Whoa! That's some seriously toxic thinking, my friend. There's a middle ground between single mindedly sacrificing yourself to an ideal, and being ignorant and complacent. If grad school doesn't work out, is there some way you can create a life with the characteristics that attract you to academia? Something that challenges you, lets you be creative, lets you contribute, has some flexibility? Why not rethink your goal in terms of certain elements that you want in your life (something that you HAVE control over) instead of getting a specific position (something you have little control over)?

To extend my run of bad analogies on this thread.... we've probably all known someone who's so intent on getting married that she sacrifices happiness in other parts of her life, other goals, and eventually even the quality of her future spouse in order to reach that one goal. A $30 000 wedding and two years later, divorce. If she had focused on the reasons why she wanted to get married (companionship, excitement, time spent with family?) instead of the goal, things might turn out differently.

I'm a pragmatist and a bit of a cynic, but I think that if your ideal is making you so miserable that you say you have 'nothing to live for', it might be time to re-evaluate why you're pursuing that ideal in the first place, and try to achieve something similar by a different path. Grad school is not worth suffering like that for. I strongly disagree with the poster who says that being academics is "who we are". I don't believe there's one career path for any given person any more than I believe there's one soulmate out there for any given person. You intentionally build your life through dedication and hard work. If your choices so far are making you miserable, you CAN change things. You're only in your thirties, after all!

I had the opportunity to sit on the admissions committee for my MA program this spring. It was an incredible experience and I strongly recommend it if you ever have the opportunity. It gave me a lot of insight into the process and I learned a lot about how to write a good statement of purpose. Here are a few suggestions:

1) Remember, you need to stand out!! The folks on the committee are reading a ton of applications and it is likely that they will read your SOP once (maybe even skim it), so you want to show the committee what it is about you that makes you special.
2) Edit your statement!! You would be surprised how many had grammatical errors and/or spelling mistakes there were. Make sure you have someone else read it since some of the spelling mistakes may not be caught by spell check since they are also a word (ie. make sure you say you want to work with faculty members, not faulty members!).
3) Don't spend too much time on personal stuff from your childhood. It is important that the committee get a sense of who you are, and if something from your childhood feeds directly into what you want to study it is relevant and you should mention it, but don't spend too much time on it. What the committee wants to know is who you are now and what you want to do. So, if you are applying to archeology programs it would not be appropriate to talk about how you used to dig up glass in your backyard. It is too quaint. Spend your time talking about something you have done more recently and directly relevant, like the summer trip you went on to Greece where you learned about ruins, etc. If you have overcome tremendous challenges to get to where you are, DO mention this!
4) THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING! DO MENTION WHY YOU WANT TO ATTEND THAT SCHOOL. Without being conscious of it, I found I was drawn to these applications. So many SOPs did not even mention my school, let alone professors. Mentioning who you want to work with and what you could learn from them is so key. It tells the committee that you have done your homework, that you want to come to that school and you know exactly why. It also clears up any confusion for them if they are not sure it is a good fit.
5) Be somewhat specific about what you want to study. This doesn't mean you need to know the village you want to work in, but don't just say you want to study Latin American history. What about Latin American history?

Okay, so these things may seem obvious. I certainly thought they were. I was surprised to find out that in fact they are not obvious to everyone. Good luck with you applications. It is such a painful process.

From the creative writing side -- the divide between critic and artist is pretty huge in most cases. Ever since the field of English began divesting itself of everything that doesn't have to do with literary criticism (creative writing, composition, journalism, technical writing, etc.), the number of academics who pursue criticism and becoming an artist has dwindled. The name of the game was always "narrow your focus." If you pursued multiple foci you risked not being taken seriously. The general consensus at my school is that creative writing is a craft and literary criticism is a tool. (I disagree with this for many reasons, not least of all because being an "artist" is disparaged since it is viewed as easier/less work and ultimately less useful). Some departments are moving beyond this largely 20th century view (in light of postmodernism) and note it on their websites.

My deadline was on jan 1st!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wanna die. Or kill them. Or hurt them. O something that includes some kind of violence.

quoting some note in the results page: "cuny sucks dick for coke anyway".

I know EXACTLY what you mean. I had multiple people tell me I was an idiot for making the choice I did. One friend of mine even sat me down for an entire afternoon and lectured me on why I should choose School #1, he said to go anywhere else would be "insane." Another guy I knew from school actually called me just to say, "You got into School #1 and you're not going? Wow, you're stupid."

I feel kind of silly saying this, but I saw Alice in Wonderland a couple days ago and one part struck a chord with me: all these people are telling Alice she needs to slay the Jabberwocky. Everyone's got an opinion and thinks they know better than her what she should do. Then the Queen told her, "Make sure you're making this choice for YOU and not anyone else, because although everyone's got an opinion on it now, if you go up there with that sword, you go alone."

So, forget what everyone else is telling you - you alone will hold that sword, so you alone make the choice.

Sorry to sound blunt, but I find taking out 100k+ for just a master's to be a bit untenable.

Look. I'm writing this thread well after top PhD programs have notified. The one in which I am waitlisted for that I want notified their accepted applicants in late January, and gave the funding info within a week. (A fellow student of mine was lucky enough to be on the first list)

I could understand your hostility towards me if I posted this a month ago, but please... It's mid-March. The top programs have already had their prospectives weekend; and all their accepted apps have had weeks to mull over the finances. If you also noticed, I mentioned that the school that I am waitlisted for is a top-ten school. I'm not saying this to brag or sound arrogant, but rather for the simple fact that those accepted to Harvard and Yale have known for months, and quite frankly, they're probably not waiting on that response from the University of Puerto Rico. So, since Harvard and Yale both have offered great packages, and are stellar schools, make up your mind already!

As I said before, we all since being freshman have waited for, and anticipated going into a PhD program, and have likely looked over our top choice programs hundreds of times, nothing new is going to pop up that makes you change your mind, the funding offers in this economic climate are more-or-less set in stone, so... Just because some applicants are afraid to commit why should those waitlisted suffer?

Again.... let me clarify why, and to whom this thread was started. (I'm getting sick of having to re-say this)

#1: To those who are accepted to numerous schools, and already know where they want to go: NOTIFY THE SCHOOLS.

#2: To those who are accepted to numerous schools who might not realize that there are waitlistees waiting: PLEASE NOTIFY THE SCHOOLS.

#3: To those who are seriously confused, and weighing out options between a few: NOTIFY THOSE THAT YOU DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT. And good luck in figuring out which is best. But please try to answer reasonably soon.



Papercuts: When I was referring to those who are being predatory and juvenile, as is clear in the post, it was directed to those who know where want to go, and are deliberately waiting to see if they can bleed the school for more money as a tactic not those who actually need it.

And no... I have notified those programs that I have been accepted to that I know for sure I do not want, and did it even before I was waitlisted. As of now I am waitlisted at this one top-ten PhD program, and am waitlisted at a 10-15 program. I have outstanding offers from fully-funded MA programs, but they either accept or deny and do not utilize a waitlist of any kind, so the reason that I am sitting on them is because it does not matter to any other applicants.

ResPublica is entirely right about funding tiers at schools. you want to start with the best possible package because the most prestigious awards throughout grad school from your own department and your own institution will fall to you first. having a number of fellowships, rather than fully-funded TAships, on your CV are also necessary to be competitive for external grants and fellowships, both during and after your PhD.

you don't merely want to go to a good program. you want to be (perceived as) the best student in your cohort at your good program. and that means securing the best fellowships on offer. and THAT can mean waiting for other admits to reject their acceptances so their incoming fellowships can fall to you.

I am sorry to throw some more flame on the fire but this thread starts with an understandable request and turns it into a selfish and accusatory demand. As someone who is waiting for financial aid decisions from a number of schools I can say that there are a large number of reasons people wait for all this information to be finalized. A lot of them are financial. Predatory and juvenile? What makes you think that people who want more money per month from their schools do it because they are hungry for cash? If money was the main concern PhD seems like the wrong choice to begin with. Could it be possible that some people really need the extra 200 dollars to survive? Who are you to judge the motivations and circumstances of diverse applicants that you know absolutely nothing about. PhD application is tough and the decision is one that is going to affect you for a significant portion of your life. Do you want people to rush their admission decisions or to not try improving their aid package because YOU are on a waitlist? This is infuriatingly obtuse and makes me wonder if you would be pondering on the same issue when you were the one 'sitting on' admits. From the entitled attitude on your posts I highly doubt that you would be as considerate as you demand everyone else to be. This is a nasty way to let off steam in this frustrating times.

If there are really people who know exactly where they want to go and have all the financial issues sorted out but are using their admits to milk departments of their budgets although they don't need the extra money, shame on them. But your plea won't affect those guys. It will just end up frustrating people like me with a couple of acceptances but very little information on financial aid at all. We respect and want to be part of the departments we apply to and at least deserve the right to make a good decision after we receive all the relevant information. We don't need the impatient harassment of self-indulgent applicants.